Mr Kausikan said Singaporeans must be aware of China’s covert “influence operations”.
“persuade, induce and coerce”.
The first involves rejecting the norm of non-interference in another state’s domestic affairs and believing that its interests should be promoted wherever they may be
China uses a range of tactics from legitimate diplomacy to more covert and often illegal deployment of agents of influence and operations – to sway decision makers or public opinion leaders.
the aim of its influence operations, which he added was not just to direct behaviour but to condition it as well.
a key tactic is to present target countries with oversimplified narratives, “forcing false choices on you and making you choose between them”
“China doesn’t just want you to comply with its wishes, it wants you to … do what it wants without being told,”
“When the Chinese try to impose a Chinese identity on Singapore, we must resist, because modern Singapore is based on the idea of being a multiracial country,” he added.
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a “far cry from reality and leaves an unfavourable impression of China on others”.
“China does not impose its ideology and development model.”
the target of “groundless attacks”, as global media is largely dominated by the West.
“the Belt and Road Initiative and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. These have gained a positive response from many countries, not because of manipulation but because they meet the interests of other parties and provide opportunities for common development,”
willing to share its development opportunities with others and by no means imposes its models on other countries.
“misleading others into misunderstanding China”